Indonesia Power accused of buying coal from illegal miners

PT Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of state owned electricity company PLN, has been accused of buying coal from illegal miners to feed the company?s steam power plants particularly the Suralaya plant in Merak, Banten, Neraca reported on Wednesday.

The power plant operator has purchased coal from at least 10 illegal miners mostly comprising of small-scale companies located in Kalimantan.

According to the daily, as part of its coal purchase program, PT Indonesia Power has signed agreement with South Sumatra-based PT Batubara Bukit Asam and the Jakarta-based PT KB feed the power plant operator?s Suralaya plant.

The illegal purchase began when PT KB?s coal mining projects in South Kalimantan suffered a production problem. In order to fulfill the supply commitment to PT KB procured the coal needs from smaller coal mining companies in the province with the consent of Indonesia Power. The companies from which PT KB bought the coal, however, were not included in the list of registered coalmine operators regularly issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

As part of efforts in coping with illegal coal mining activities, the ministry periodically issues names of registered coal mining operators. Coal buyers are banned from buying from companies not included in the list.

The new list of registered coal mine operators issued by the ministry only includes PT Arutmin Indonesia, PT Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku, PT Adaro Indonesia, PT Antang Gunung Meratus, PT Bentala Coal Mining, PD Baramarta, PT Jorong Barutama Greston, PT Kadya Caraka Mulya, PT Sumber Kurnia Buana, PT Tanjung Alam Raya, PT Baramulti Sukessarana, PT Senamas Energindo Mulia, Koperasi Teratai Putih, Koperasi Karya Murni and Koperasi Makmur.

PT Suralaya plant with a generating capacity of 3,400 MW needs at least 11 million tons of coal a year, of which between 6 million and 7 million are supplied by PT Barubara Bukit Asam. (*)